Let’s start with the most ridiculous bar fight scene of any movie I’ve seen. Nick Bannister, played by Hugh Jackman, is a future private eye who uses a memory machine to discover clues to his cases. When Nick falls for a mysterious singer called Mae (Rebecca Ferguson), he falls hard. When Mae disappears, Nick is obsessed with finding her. Yes, all the elements of a typical film noir show up including Nick’s annoying voice-over narration.
So, back to the ridiculous bar fight. Nick strolls into a New Orleans bar where a criminal kingpin (Daniel Wu) conducts his crime empire. The kingpin is surrounded by body guards. Nick asks about Mae and suddenly finds himself thrust into the kingpin’s fish tank filled with menacing creatures. Then, all hell breaks loose while Nick continues to drown. Since this scene is about mid-way through Reminiscence you can guess what happens. Very predictable..and silly.
Reminiscence opens with a shot of Miami drowning in water. No taxis…just motor boats get people around the sinking city. The future is grim, but Director Lisa Joy (who also wrote the screenplay) makes the submerged world look fabulous–which is the best part of this disappointing movie. GRADE: C
In a fairly short period of time the HBO/MAX back catalog of movies has put them in a tie with Amazon Prime as my favorite streamer, way ahead of Netflix and Hulu, but the heavily hyped Same Day Premieres haven’t added much. The only one I’ve really liked a lot was NO SUDDEN MOVE, which you covered here recently. This one looks awfully good, but the plot is a muddled mess. Your grade of C is about what I’d give it.
Michael, like you I found REMINISCENCE muddled mess, too. It had potential, but the interesting cast and setting were undercut by a goofy plot.
Yeah, the reviews did sound ridiculous. Gonna skip this one for sure.
Jeff, I liked the cast of REMINISCENCE but the muddled plot gave them little to do with any substance.
We might try the new spinoff from ‘SALEM’S LOT on Epix – CHAPELWAITE.
Jeff, let me know what you think of CHAPELWAITE. ‘SALEM’S LOT is one of my favorite Stephen King novels.
Totlly OT:
Just read in the Guardian:
Hurricane Henri was due to crash into the north-eastern US coast on Sunday, as heavy rain caused flooding in some areas of New York and nearby cities.
Hope you’re all doing ok!
Wolf, we had SIX INCHES of rain in Brooklyn last night – not, thankfully, in our part, but I did see street flooding in Williamsburg and elsewhere. Central Park (the official NYC measuring station) had a record 4.45 inches. The Mayor’s Welcome Back NYC concert had to be called off halfway through when there was lightning in the area.
And that was just the early bands of rain hundreds of miles ahead of the hurricane! It is supposed to hit east if Montauk Point later this morning.
Jeff, hope you and Jackie ride out Henri without problems. Katie and Patrick in Boston are reporting heavy rains.
Wolf, Henri is lashing the New England states right now. We’re about 400 miles from the action. All we’re getting in Western NY is cloudy skies.
Some of the early straight- to -streaming movies were great. (ROMA, MARRIAGE STORY) but now not so much. I guess most movies don’t really interest me anymore. At least those from Hollywood rather than indies and foreign films.
I agree. I loved ROMA but recent offerings have mostly not even interested me enough to watch them. JOLT was mildly entertaining. THE TOMORROW WAR was watchable but mediocre. ARMY OF THE DEAD was stupid but mindlessly watchable (appropriate for a zombie movie, I guess). THE DIG wasn’t bad. PENGUIN BLOOM? I had to look up what it was. Frankly, I thought ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI… was OK but overrated. We also watched a number of documentaries, including what was probably the best of this entire list, DICK JOHNSON IS DEAD.
Jeff, there’s a lot of mediocre content on many of the streaming services. Without a strong review or a recommendation from a trusted source–like you, Patti, Michael, Steve, and Dan–I’m not taking the risk of watching another dud.
Patti, I liked NO SUDDEN MOVE but other than that, the streaming movies have been duds. THE SUICIDE SQUAD was fun, but clearly not for everyone.
George, I have one for you. Not a movie but a short limited series (six half hour episodes, so you can zip right through it) called THE CHAIR, that just popped up on Netflix last week. It stars the wonderful Sandra Oh as the new chair of the English Department in a fading liberal arts college. It’s full of old faces you’ll recall but maybe not know their names. It’s really quite funny, especially for anyone who has ever spent time in a college English Dept either as faculty or student. Should be right up your alley. Not the one that leads to the MCU, the other one.
Michael, just through serendipity I was reading a review of THE CHAIR in the Wall Street Journal. They liked it as much as you did! I’ll put THE CHAIR on my Watch List for next week and perhaps a review of it will pop up on my blog next weekend. Thanks for the heads up!
This was pretty disappointing. I am interested in a couple of forthcoming HBO Max films. Dune and the Sopranos prequel.
Steve, not a day goes by when I don’t receive some sort of hype about DUNE. Their marketing machine is working overtime!
Try SPONTANEOUS the 2020 film on Epix, iTunes, Hulu and Amazon, among other platforms. Best out of left field film I’ve seen of late.
Todd, I’ll add SPONTANEOUS to our Watch List. Thanks for the recommendation!